The Democratic Party in the USA had their first primary elections in Iowa State and the whole thing turned out to be a fiasco, at least for about a month.
The main reason for the fiasco was that the results for that elections were not ready because the machines they used couldn’t produce the results as expected. The machines were down.
When the National Public Radio (NPR) contacted the election commission, they didn’t talk to them but their earlier investigations had revealed that they used new machines which were not tested before the elections.
The commission were so sure that the machines were going to work only to find out that the elections results could not be collated.
There is the debate in Ghana that the Electoral Commission is going to buy some new machines for the 2020 Elections. The machines are going to be used for the first time for these elections. This is the where the lessons from Iowa State come in.
The Electoral Commission is independent per the constitution but the independence is limited by those who lead it.
This Electoral Commission led by Mrs Jean Mensah and Dr. Bossman Asare still don’t think there would be elections in Ghana on December 7, 2020. They are preparing the grounds for several law suits that would prevent the elections from being held. We are 6 months into a major elections in Ghana but they don’t care about what they are doing.
They have laid a CI in Parliament and I don’t know whether they took the maturity date of the CI into consideration before laying it. They have procured machines for the 2020 Elections but the machines are yet to arrive in Ghana.
Comrade Brogya Genfi has said on several radio and TV stations that the machines have not arrived. I thought by now the EC would have come out to debunk those statements. They are training their staff using the machines, they claim are obsolete. What kind of Electoral Commission does that? Unfortunately, apart from some wise people who are talking about it, everybody else thinks it is okay.
Ghanaians, unfortunately voted for the incompetent President of Nana Addo. He appointed the clueless Jean Mensah and Dr. Bossman Asare. I am wondering what the other “wise” men would have done if today, John Mahama and Charlotte Osei were the President and EC Chair respectfully.
These “wise” men don’t see anything wrong if there is no time table for the elections, six months to vote; they don’t see that the EC has a CI in parliament which will take away the rights and identity of the Ghanaian; they don’t see the danger of the EC using new machines for a major elections as the Election 2020. They don’t see any thing.
The bottom line is any one who thinks an Electoral Commission who can’t even write a perfect letter to invite political parties to a meeting but can organize a free and fair elections in Ghana is a fool. Again, any one who thinks the same person who said all die be die in order to win elections is going to superindent over a free and fair elections is an idiot. I have said it.
Dr. Lawrence is the Founder of the Diaspora Progressive Movement based in USA.
*SOURCE: DAILY POST*
